Summer of Pie: Fresh Strawberry Pie

After indulging in episode after episode of Pushing Daisies I finally rolled out my first pie of Summer of Pie! We were going to a family celebration, Birthdays and BBQ, the tradition that started last year where the whole family gets together and celebrates everyone birthdays, eats BBQ (of course!) and each family brings a cake or pie. It excessive and deliciously fun!

This year I contributed a fresh strawberry pie. I searched recipe after recipe and found that the best liked pies had jello in them, an ingredient I wasn't willing to use. I opted to make a glaze out of pureed strawberries, water and corn starch. It turned out ok, but because of the pieces of fruit/seeds it wasn't super smooth and glossy and the lack of red food coloring left it rather pink in color. The flavor was good though and the layer of cream cheese whipped with lemon juice and powdered sugar balanced the sweetness of the fruit. I wouldn't say I've mastered the fresh strawberry pie just yet, but it was a pretty good attempt!

The recipes for the pie filling I used can be found here. The modifications being I kept the strawberries whole to prevent the pie from becoming too wet, and half the water called for in the recipe was replaced with pureed strawberries.

I used this pie crust recipe, which happened to be my first time using lard (which I found a little intimidating!) and it resulted in the best crust I have made to date. I partially credit Amy Thielen for this because after watching an episode of Heartland Table (which I love, love, love!) I realized I have been adding too much water, touching it too much, and not allowing it to chill before rolling it out.

To take the edge off the sweetness of the pie and add a little richness I decided to whip up the block of cream cheese I had in the fridge with the juice of half a lemon and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I spread it into the bottom of the crust before piling the strawberries in and I think it made the pie extra tasty. I opted to forgo the whipped cream and instead drizzled dark chocolate over the top and pipe the remaining bit of cream cheese filling on top to hold my whole strawberry in place.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of this sliced because the view of the red berry atop the creamy layer of cheese nestled into a flaky crust was beautiful! I couldn't get said picture because my plate my have been piled high with a bit of each treat that was brought...
I told you it was excessive and delicious!

A peak at Birthdays & BBQ 2015:

Stephanie and the Pie Maker

Stephanie was 31 years, five moths and twenty-one days old at the time of the summer solstice. It was summer solstice that set off a chain of events known as The Summer of Pie. The Summer of Pie meant Stephanie would bake no less than a pie a month for the entirety of the summer, thus mastering the art of pie baking. Stephanie was pleased at the thought of such an endeavor and went to work straight away seeking out recipes. Using the knowledge and wisdom of the pie maker himself, Ned, she set out rolling pin in hand.

I have made a pie or two in my day, but I have never felt as though I have mastered a recipe. I grew up in a house where pie filling came in cans and a crust could be rolled out from a box, no cookbook or recipe required. I never feel shame from tearing the plastic off a pastry prepared by Marie Calendar, however I do feel so much joy when I prepare something from scratch. I love giving the gift of food made by my own hands and there is something about the classic pie that appeals to me. No fuss, no frills, just butter and fruit.

I can still remember our family being presented a pie by a neighbor when we moved into our first house. It was such a kind gesture, a little nostalgic of days gone by. It stuck with me, if you ever want to make someone feel welcome bake them a pie.

Of course I can't talk pie without thinking of the show I loved so dearly that was taken off the air before its time. Was I the only one who LOVED Pushing Daisies? Oh the tragic romance of Ned and Chuck... And who doesn't want a little happiness baked into a pie when you're feeling like the aunts? And Olive, oh, Olive, I too break into song from time to time. I just don't have the pipes you do! Mostly though it's The Pie Hole that has stolen my heart. It's a dreamy little dive that I want to close my eyes and pretend I'm at, rolling out pies and serving up coffee.

I decided I needed a Pushing Daisies fix and ordered the DVDs which of course led to my determination to make summer of 2015 The Summer of Pie. I plan on whipping up pie after delicious, flaky pie. Eating piece after piece for the sake of research until the prefect pie is achieved!  Of course this for the well being (and pie eating) of my dear friends and family who are subjected to my baking. I'm doing this for you!

Okay, maybe it's for myself.

And Ned.

Let the pie making begin!

Fishin' & Weedin'

After a long rainy spell the weather finally turned in my favor and it's drying out! I have spent the past week fretting over my garden, its infestation with grass and weeds, my inability to weed or plant and the fact my plants are drowning and yellowing. My children have spent the past week cooped up inside or limited to the driveway to play. It hasn't been pretty. But today, oh today..... There was sun, there was (relatively) dry ground and there was sun!

We decided to embrace the nice weather and packed a picnic lunch and went out to find a lake to take our girls fishing. I'm pretty sure I haven't fished since I was about 12. Whoever I went fishing with said I couldn't fish if I couldn't bait my own hook so I set out to do it, no big deal. Except it was a big deal and 12 year old me was a bit of a priss. I stabbed a hook through a minnow and it bled. I gagged, pranced around, made a scene and then gave up fishing. My husband knows this story so I sort of expected he would spare me the trauma and just bait my hooks all day. Nope. Luckily it was just worms and my children were around or this whole fishing bit may not have happened. I have a rule where I can't react to new situations with any bias so that I don't scare the girls off from trying new things. This rule led to worm poop and blood on my hands and only under my breath ewwing. I survived and caught the first fish of my adult life, which I was pretty proud of. My kid caught a fish and wouldn't hold it by the mouth, but decided to pet it and snuggle against it. My other kid reminded me why we hadn't previously tried the whole fishing bit. Next time I'm making the husband rig her reel with a fake fish so she can pretend all day because that girl has no patience and probably said a minimum for 50 times that she was ready to go. Regardless, I think we had enough fun that we will forget the torture that is fishing with toddlers and go again!

When we got home we decided to take advantage of the dry-ish ground and I FINALLY got to pull some weeds out of the garden. It will take hours to clear it and I may never finish, but boy did it feel good to get out there! Some of the yellowing of my plants seems to be going away so the garden may not be a flop after all. (Like how dramatic I can be? I blame 12 year old me, such a drama queen.)

The girls worked and played so hard that they are sleeping away in their beds, slightly sun-kissed because I never remember to put sunscreen on them...

It was a good day. 

P.S. Feel free to come help me pull weeds!

All About April

April showers bring May flowers!

I thought that was how the saying went, but it seems April showers have brought... May showers?

Enough of the rain already!

The rain this afternoon has brought a few things to my attention: 1) I desperately need a covered porch, 2) Chicks are not smart and they will not get out of the rain and will instead attempt to suffocate one another in the fury of trying to hide in a massive pile, 3) I will never finish my planting because the ground will never be dry enough and 4) I so wish to have a lap top so I can sit out on my covered porch (my hypothetical porch that is) and sip my coffee and enjoy the warm rains that are keeping me from getting my work done.

Instead of spending my afternoon daydreaming I'm going to spend it enjoying a cup of coffee in the office and sharing a bit about my April. April always seems to be our busiest (and most expensive) month. I don't know if it is from shaking the hibernation of winter and wanting to do more or if we really just have that much going on, but whatever it is, we stay busy.

The warm weather means outdoor projects so we started April off with a bang (literally) when we removed the lower portion of our back deck. It was built around the above ground pool that met its fate last year and is now residing in the local dump. I knew I wanted to remove the deck since the pool collapsed, but getting Andy on board was another story. I think his hesitation was in part due to the amount of work it would take and in part because he kind of liked the second tier to the deck. In my attempt to persuade him I insisted we at least take off the one set of stairs that were rotting to the point of being a hazard. With one half-hearted push the hand rail gave way and with just as little effort the stairs were torn off. Once we realized the whole deck was in that poor of condition, it was game on. Many, many hours later we had removed the lower deck as well as the stairs from the upper deck. The screws and nails we removed filled a mens shoe box to the top! It was so much work and means we now have the bigger task of replacing the stairs and filling/leveling/seeding the ground where the deck and pool once resided, but it was so worth it! It means we are one step closer to having the back yard we want.

Other yard work we did was plotting and planting in the garden, clearing the fence lines of weeds, burning the brush pile and pruning the fruit trees. Can I just tell you that it is SO NERVE WRECKING to prune trees? Our orchard is young so when I say pruning I mean taking the tree back to its three-four main branches. I snipped away, holding my breath all the while, hoping they would bud and I would know that I hadn't just killed them all! Sure enough, one by one each tree budded and I finally could let out a sigh of relief.

We celebrated Easter by spending the afternoon with family, hunting eggs and eating too much food. Amelia discovered the wonders of the deviled egg and all the eggs we colored were turned into them. She topped each with another discovery on her part: paprika. We have continued to consume these treats regularly, per request!

We made a big purchase this April when we became a two vehicle family. Andy finally got the truck he has been wanting and I'm one step closer to looking like a legit farmer-ha!

We celebrated the 30th birthdays of  my sister Tracey and Andy, which means cake! And sometimes the cake is too hot to frost so you cut it up and make a sundae. Amelia wanted so badly to use her chocolate bunny for Tracey's cake so we melted it down and used it to decorate. It ended up being one seriously chocolaty cake!

We picked up our new family members from the post office when our mail order chicks arrived! The girls were so excited to have chickens again and they have kept us busy with their shenanigans. They seem to like spilling their water and more than one has been found stuck in the feeder. I guess you can only expect so much from chickens.

We spent some time with my brother-in-law who was home on leave and went to a Royals game and ate at various dining establishments. We save the hibachi grill for such occasions, which is good because if we didn't I fear I would spend a small fortune eating too much rice and sushi. I thought for sure there would be pictorial evidence of these things, but it turns out the only picture I could find was an awkward selfie that is too ridiculous to share.

Speaking of pictures, April was also picture day for dance! I put the exclamation point only because I survived. There is nothing fun about dressing small children up in costumes that don't fit into car seats, with eye make up they cry off on the way, to stand in a small room that I'm sure has exceeded max capacity per fire code. Now that it is over I can actually say there is something fun about it: excited children smiling awkwardly in their pictures! It was too much for Marinn, who passed out on me while waiting on sisters group to finish. I must say though, they were VERY excited to finally get to see and wear their costumes!

I feel like I passed some sort of test this April when I didn't cry when I took my kid to Kindergarten Roundup and I didn't ask any crazy questions in the parent portion. No small feat for the woman who continuously teared up and/or cried when discussing school starting. I'm still not sold on this whole day kindergarten bit, but it seems as though I'm going to have to get on board. You know who is wholeheartedly on board? The kindergartner. She perched herself next to the mascot on the way in for a picture, ditched me at the first chance to go color and explore, and was sitting next to the teacher when I came to get her. Instead of rushing to me when she saw me like other children were there parents, she sat in place and only raised her hand when she heard her name called. She reluctantly said goodbye as she was told it was time to go. She made me so proud! Now I just need to slow down time so August doesn't get here too quickly!

Also in April we had an impromptu lunch with my sister Caley, whom we do not see often enough! We met up with them at a pizza place along the highway while they were making the drive home from visiting her in-laws. We put five kids who hadn't seen each other in a while together in a restaurant. We're crazy. Tracey, being the great aunt that she is, got them all bouncy balls and entertained them. She's pretty awesome like that.

At the end of April my cousin finally went into labor and I got to be present for the birth of her baby girl. She's the only one who has taken me up on the offer to watch them have a baby! (I probably scare people with such comments) I wasn't just hanging out to watch the show, it was more along the lines of a birthing coach and point and shoot photographer. There is something so fascinating about child birth to me and to be able to help someone have the labor/delivery they want is a pretty cool feeling. It's a story I hope to share in more detail, but as for now it's not my story to tell!

Now onto the month of May, which seems to want to prove me wrong about April being the busiest....

The Flock 2015

We have been fussing over our feathered babies for the past week or so and I must say that these chicken mamas are acting like pros! As the girls are getting older they are taking on more responsibility with our chickens. I must say,  I am quite impressed with how well they are doing with our tiny new chicks. They have been feeding, watering and butt wiping (because that is a thing with baby chicks.) Don't they look like proud mamas?

The flock this year consists of 25 birds of 5 breeds, however 3 of them will be leaving us when they get bigger to be city chickens at my sister's house. We loved the breeds of chickens from our first flock and they were great layers so we decided they were a necessity, but I couldn't resist throwing in a couple more breeds. This years flock includes: 4 Rhode Island White, 4 Barred Plymouth Rock, 4 Cinnamon queen, 5 Easter Egg, and 5 Single Comb Rhode Island Red. Here are pictures of our chicks at one day old. Grow, chickens, grow!

Easter Egg

Cinnamon Queen

Barred Plymouth Rock

Rhode Island White

Rhode Island Red

I've Got a Crush On You

So I have a serious crush on this boy... only he turned 30 this week so should probably no longer use the term "boy" and instead say "man." When we met we were at the age where it seemed funny and maybe even somewhat romantic that he would throw coasters at me. We were also at the age where I felt no shame in pretending to like cats so that when he was holding a kitten I had a legitimate excuse to sit beside him. We were also very mature in telling our family about our relationship. I think the conversation with my sister went a little something like this: "Do you want to go hang out at my friend Andy's house? Oh and don't freak out if he tries to kiss me, we may be dating."

The photograph I came across (in print, taken from an actual camera-because we're that old) perfectly shows the maturity. I mean like amazingly well. We look 12. Okay maybe 16... 18 tops. We sure felt like we knew everything and were ready to take on the world though. Little did we know then that we would be looking back at that picture nearly 11 years later and laughing at how naive we were.

Here we are, all this time later, and I still have the biggest crush on the man who is my husband and the father of my children. The world keeps changing around us and we continue to grow together, which is the best part of having a partner to spend your life with. I feel pretty lucky to spend my days with him and I look forward to the day we sit down and look back at the picture of our 30 year old selves and laugh at all the things we thought we knew and reminisce about all the great things we were a part of that we never could have foreseen. Happiest of birthdays, my love. I hope to spend many, many more with you!

P.S. This picture makes me wish we took more pictures with actual cameras. Selfies are awkward (and in this case blurry.) I'm sure 40 year old me will totally make fun of us. 

Mail Order Chickens

We laced up our shoes and zipped our jackets up to head out. There was so much excitement and chatter between the girls that buckling in took much longer than it should have, but alas the car shifted into gear and we headed off down the road. These chicken mamas were off to pick up their new flock. As we pulled up to the post office and strolled inside the girls shared the exciting news with everyone they passed. They were met with strange looks and the question, "You're picking up chickens at the post office?"

Of course to most this would seem like a strange transaction, I mean chickens in the mail?? I get it. But for someone purchasing chickens for the first time it seemed like the best way. We weren't connected to anyone raising and hatching chicks and after hearing stories of less than healthy chicks from stores that wasn't a route I was too comfortable with. Health is of utmost importance as these birds are a food source for us. We want to make sure the chicks are from healthy, non-medicated birds. We also wanted to be able to pick a specific breed and only pullets and if we sought out someone hatching backyard chickens we would be limited in what we could get. Our attention shifted to hatcheries and we decided it would be the best decision for us. We researched and found a reputable hatchery and read about all the breeds of birds they offered, their decision not to medicate and the ability to order chicks at different times and our decision was solidified. The only thing with this hatchery was it was too far to drive which meant our chicks would be arriving via the US Postal Service.

I'll admit that this seemed quite strange to me. Who in their right mind puts freshly hatched chicks into a box and onto a truck to drive them all about? Turns out it's not that strange, or uncommon. It isn't much different than if we would have gone to pick them up and put them in our own car to drive home. The chicks hang out in their box all snuggled together and seem quite fine upon arrival. A quick dip into a water dish and they are eating, drinking, sleeping and growing just as any other baby would be!

We raised our first flock last year that consisted of three different breeds and we were not disappointed. We had healthy, laying chickens that were quite entertaining to have around. Our plan was to continue to add a few birds to our flock each year so we would have a rotation of layers and a few birds in the freezer. It seemed that the mail order would continue to be a good method for us as it provides healthy birds of breeds of our choosing that we order whenever we see fit.

Unfortunately our first flock met an unlucky fate (RIP ladies) but we are starting with our second flock a little wiser in the ways of raising chickens. Our second flock is busy growing, spending their days under the heat of a lamp and being fussed over by their chicken mamas (AKA my girls.) At some point we may seek out someone local to purchase a chick or two from. We may even get really brave and decide to hatch a few chicks of our own, but for now we are liking our mail order chicks.

If you want to check out the hatchery we order from you can find them here. If you want to read more about our experiences with chickens you can read about it here.